Needle punching machines



April 21, 1964 E B. OBYRNE NEEDLE PUNCHING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 21

INVENTOR: BREW/0AA! O'BY E BY (lumuwa.

A'rra & ME)

April 21, 1964 B. OBYRNE NEEDLE PUNCHING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledFeb. 21, 1962 INVENTOR:

gpennm o'nnwvs B. OBYRNE NEEDLE PUNCHING MACHINES A ril 21, 1964 FiledFeb. 21, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 m T N E V m IllIL United States Patent3,129,486 NEEDLE PUNCHING MACS Brendan OByrne, Batiey, England, assignorto William Bywater Limited, Leeds, England Filed Feb. 21, 1962, Scr. No.174,732 (Ilaims. (Cl. 28-4) This invention relates to needle punchingmachines for use, for example, in needling endless Woven felts such asare used in the paper-making industry. Felts and like endless materialsof greatly increased widths are now required to be needled, but thesegreater widths reach a figure which renders it diflicult or impossibleto cope with them on needle punching machines of known construction,since they involve new considerations relating to the span of themachine, the weight of the needle board and its operating mechanism, themeans of inserting and withdrawing the endless felt into and from themachine, and other features necessary to such a machine.

It is an object of this invention to provide a machine capable ofdealing with such extra wide felts, for example of a width up to (say)450 inches or more.

Another object is to construct the frame of the machine so that it willhave the strength and stability to support the great weight of mechanismnecessary for such a wide machine, particularly the mechanism which hasto be rapidly reciprocated to perform the needling operation, and yetwill allow for the comparatively easy insertion and removal of theendless felts onto and oif the needle bed.

A further object is to so construct the support means for the needle bedthat it can be supported at the open end of the machine alternatively atone of two points to enable an endless felt to be inserted and removedin two stages.

A still further object is to mount on the needle bed or its supportmeans driven feed and draw rollers arranged to pass the material to betreated across the bed whereby, when the bed is adjusted in heightrelative to the reciprocatable needle board to vary the depth ofpenetration of the needles, these rollers will move correspondingly tomaintain a constant tension of the material lying across the bed.

The present invention aims at achieving these objects and others whichwill be evident from the ensuing description, and in order that thenature of the invention and manner of carrying it into effect may beclearly understood I shall now describe by way of example oneconstruction of machine according to the invention with reference to theaccompanying drawings, but I desire to make it clear that other suitableconstructions of machine may be evolved for carrying out the inventionand that I claim protection for all such constructions within the scopeof the appended claims.

In these drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a broken plan of a machine frame constructed according tothe invention, the centre portion being omitted as this will depend ineach case on the width of the machine;

FIGURE 2 is a broken elevation of the frame shown in FIGURE 1, omittingone of the intermediate members shown therein, and including movablemeans for supporting one end of the bottom beam, at the open end of themachine.

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation of the frame looking at the closed end inthe direction of arrow X in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a broken end elevation of a complete machine embodying theinvention and showing the closed end of the machine;

3,129,486 Patented Apr. 21, 1964 FIGURE 5 is a broken end elevationcorresponding to FIGURE 4 but showing the open end of the machine, aportion of a cover over the end of the bottom beam being cut away toshow jacking means for such beam.

As shown most clearly in FIGURES 1 to 3, the machine frame includes topand bottom beams 1, 5 of deep I section having their webs 2, 6 in mutualvertical alignment and their upper and lower flanges 3, 4 and 7, 8horizontal, the beams extending widthwise of the machine across the fullspan thereof. The bottom beam 5 is supported at the closed end of themachine upon a girder framework 9 secured upon a foundation girder 10.The other end of the beam 5 is extended and is supported normally upon awithdrawable block or gap piece 11 to be referred to later.

At the closed end of the machine front and rear semiarched end framemembers 12, 15 are disposed in mutual alignment with their bottomhorizontal flanges 13, 16 secured upon the foundation girder 10 andtheir top ver tical flanges 14, 17 on their upper arms secured toopposite faces of the web 2 of the top beam 1. At the open end of themachine a similar semi-arched end frame member 18 has its bottom flange19 secured upon a foundation girder 21 and its top flange 20 on itsupper arm secured to the rear face of the top beam web 2. One or moresemi-arched intermediate frame members 22, one of which is shown inFIGURE 1, are similarly secured to support the top beam 1 when the widthof the machine makes this desirable. These frame members 12, 15, 18 and(where used) 22 act as cantilever or buttress supports.

The beams 1, 5 may alternatively be of H or other suitable cross-sectionand may each consist of a single rolled steel joist or like girder asillustrated or may be fabricated from two or more sections. The end andintermediate frame members may be constructed of solid steel plate withor without strengthening ribs, or of other suitable form and material.In any event the construction of frame will provide a massive andsufliciently rigid support for the great weight of the top beam and allit has to carry, and yet will permit free access through the open end ofthe machine for insertion and removal of the endless felt, as thematerial will hereinafter be referred to.

Normally the bottom beam 5 rests upon and is bolted to the block 11which is secured on a toothed rack bar 23 slidable in a horizontalslideway 24 extending rearwardly of the machine. The rack bar is engagedby a pinion 25 secured on a revolvable shaft 26 on which is also secureda chain wheel 27 drivable by a chain 28 from a chain wheel 29 which canbe rotated by means of a handwheel 30, the wheels 29, 30 being supportedin a standard 30X.

At the end of the beam 5 within a cover 31 and fixed to an angle plate32 secured on the beam end is an hydraulic jack 33 whose foot 34 can beforced down against the floor or foundations by power from a jack pump35. This down position of the foot is indicated by broken lines inFIGURE 2 which also shows the block 11 and its operating mechanism.

With the jack foot raised an endless felt can be drawn over the extendedportion of the bottom beam as far as the block 11 and bunched up clearof the jack. The jack is then operated to take the weight of the bottombeam and all it carries and the block is unbolted and withdrawn byoperating the handwheel. The felt can then be drawn right into themachine where it encircles the bottom beam and the needle bed.

As shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 the needle bed 36 is carried by pairs ofvertical pillars 37 spaced at suitable intervals along its length. Thesepillars have screwthreaded portions passing through screw-threadedsleeves 38 secured on the flange 7 of the bottom beam 5, and on theirlower ends are secured worm wheels 39 engaging worms 49 secured on twoparallel horizontal shafts 41, 42 driven by a chain and chain wheeldriving gear 43 from an electric motor 44- mounted on the bottom beam.This mechanism all mounted on the bottom beam, enables the height of theneedle bed relative to the needle board to be adjusted.

The needle bed also supports in brackets 45 a feed roller 46 and a drawroller 47 which extend the full width of the bed and which can beintermittently rotated through ratchet mechanism (not illustrated)actuated by arms 48 coupled by link 49, one arm being operated throughlever t? and rod 51 by a crank device 52 mounted on a frame 53 securedon the upper flange 3 of the top beam 1. This operating mecham'sm forthe feed and draw rollers might be varied and forms no part of thisinvention, but the mounting of these rollers upon the needle bed whichis adjustably carried on the bottom beam 5 is a feature of the inventionsince it enables a constant tension of the felt to be maintainedautomatically in spite of adjustments in height of the bed being made tovary the depth of penetration of the needles.

The position occupied by the endless felt P is shown in FIGURE 5 whereit passes over the feed roller 46 in front of the bed and the drawroller 47 behind the bed, being guided over freely rotatable longrollers 54, 55, 56 all supported from the bottom beam 5.

The top beam 1 supports the stripper plate 57 and needle board 58 whichlatter is reciprocated through its supporting pillars or rods bymultiple driving mechanisms mounted upon the top beam along its length.These mechanisms may be of any suitable form and constitute no part ofthe present invention, but one convenient form is the subject of mycopending US. application Serial Number 174,851, filed February 21,1962, which is on the same date as this application.

I claim:

1. In a needle punching machine on a foundation base having a needle bedonto which an endless material to be needled is fed and above which aneedle board is supported and arranged to be reciprocated relative tosaid bed to perform the needling operation, the combination of a topbeam and a bottom beam extending the one above the other Widthwise ofthe machine, a plurality of end frame assembly members of cantileverform each having their upper arms secured to the ends of said top beamwith two of said end frame members at one end of the machine beingopposed to one another and extending forwardly and rearwardly of saidbeams while another of said frame members at the other end of themachine extends rearwardly only to leave the front of the machine clearfor insertion and removal of extra wide pieces of said endless material,means carried on said top beam for supporting said needle board and forreciprocating it vertically, and means carried on said bottom beam forsupporting said needle bed.

2. In a needle punching machine, the combination of claim 1, whereinsaid plurality of frame assembly members include at least oneintermediate frame member of cantilever form which is secured to saidtop beam at a point intermediate of the ends and extends rearwardly ofthe machine.

3. In a needle punching machine, the combination of claim 1, whereinsaid machine is provided with a foundation base and said bottom beam isprovided with means for supporting said bottom beam at one end of themachine upon said foundation base, withdrawable means intermediate theother end of the machine opposite said supporting means for securingsaid bottom beam upon said foundation base, and jacking means fortemporarily supporting the outer end of said bottom beam.

4. In a needle punching machine, the combination of claim 3, whereinsaid withdrawable support means con-' sists of a block which is mountedon a rearwardly and horizontally extending slideway, a toothed rack barsecured to said block, extending rearwardly along said slideway, apinion engaging said rack bar, and means for rotating said pinion towithdraw said block from its supporting position beneath said bottombeam and to return it to such position While said beam is temporarilysupported at its outer end by said jacking means.

5. In a needle punching machine, the combination of claim 3, whereinsaid withdrawable support means consists of a block which is mounted ona rearwardly and horizontally extending slideway, a toothed rack barsecured to said block extending rearwardly along said slideway, a pinionengaging said rack bar, means for rotating said pinion to withdraw saidblock from its supporting position beneath said bottom beam and toreturn it to such position while said beam is temporarily supported atits outer end by said jacking means, heightadjusting mechanism for saidneedle bed carried on said bottom beam, and drivable feed and drawrollers carried on said bed arranged to pass the endless material acrossthe bed, whereby when the bed is adjusted in height to vary the depth ofpenetration of the needles, said rollers move to maintain a constanttension of the material lying across the bed.

References (Iiterl in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

1. IN A NEEDLE PUNCHING MACHINE ON A FOUNDATION BASE HAVING A NEEDLE BEDONTO WHICH AN ENDLESS MATERIAL TO BE NEEDLED IS FED AND ABOVE WHICH ANEEDLE BOARD IS SUPPORTED AND ARRANGED TO BE RECIPROCATED RELATIVE TOSAID BED TO PERFORM THE NEEDLING OPERATION, COMBINATION OF A TOP BEAMAND A BOTTOM BEAM EXTENDING THE ONE ABOVE THE OTHER WIDTH WISE OF THEMACHINE, A PLURALITY OF END FRAME ASSEMBLY MEMBERS OF CANTILEVER FORMEACH HAVING THEIR UPPER ARMS SECURED TO THE ENDS OF SAID TOP BEAM WITHTWO OF SAID END FRAME MEMBERS AT ONE END OF THE MACHINE BEING OPPOSED TOONE ANOTHER AND EXTENDING FORWARDLY AND REARWARDLY OF SAID BEAMS WHILEANOTHER OF SAID FRAME MEMBERS AT THE OTHER END OF THE MACHINE EXTENDSREARWARDLY ONLY TO LEAVE THE FRONT OF THE MACHINE CLEAR FOR INSERTIONAND REMOVAL OF EXTRA WIDE PIECES OF SAID ENDLESS MATERIAL, MEANS CARRIEDON SAID TOP BEAM FOR SUPPORTING SAID NEEDLE BOARD AND FOR RECIPROCATINGIT VERTICALLY, AND MEANS CARRIED ON SAID BOTTOM BEAM FOR SUPPORTING SAIDNEEDLE BED.